LANSING – With the 2004-05 budget target meetings so far not making progress, Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) announced late Wednesday that the Senate would vote Thursday on all the tax increases proposed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm as well as a House-passed proposal to double the tax on the Detroit casinos.
It is unlikely any of the tax proposals – to boost the cigarette tax by 75-cents a pack, to increase the state’s liquor tax and to continue the state’s estate tax after the federal tax expires – will pass, except possibly for the proposal to double the casino tax.
But Sikkema’s spokesperson said it would be “safe to surmise” the chamber would take the action in hopes of spurring compromise on the budget discussions.
Senate Appropriations Chair Shirley Johnson (R-Royal Oak) said that so far the budget target discussions between legislative leaders and the administration are “light years apart.”
Bill Nowling, Sikkema’s spokesperson, said the administration has been insistent that “every dime” of a cigarette tax increase go to help shore up Medicaid, an action that would be “very imprudent.”
“There’s very little Republican support for any revenue plan outside of any total agreement on the budget, and which does not do anything for long-term job creation,” Nowling said.
But Johnson said both sides so far are holding firm to programs and issues “near and dear to their heart.”
And another source said Republicans in the meetings have been just as insistent that any cigarette tax revenues allocations include money for life sciences promotion.
Greg Bird, spokesperson for the State Budget Office, said only that meetings are continuing – one is scheduled for Thursday – and that officials hope agreements will be reached soon.
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